1. Field of Invention
This invention pertain to a cookie which is uniquely configured in a somewhat hemispherical shape, thereby being adapted to contain a scoop of ice cream or other confection filler. The invention more specifically relates to a cup-shaped cookie and device and method for preparation thereof, wherein the cup shape of the cookie is developed by a baking enclosure which provides differential heating at the cookie surfaces.
2. Prior Art
Ice cream is typically eaten from a cup or container which is discarded, or from a cone which may be eaten with the ice cream. U.S. Pat. No. 1,794,238 by McKibben discloses one of many edible containers for ice cram. The cone material is typically thin in structure and has a wafer-like texture. U.S. Pat. No. 1,813,099 discloses another configuration for an edible ice cream container which is donut-shaped. Here again, the material utilized is wafer-like batter such as is typically used in ice cream cone compositions. These disclosures illustrate the prior art use of molds in forming various shapes for ice cream cone structures. In this type of product, the batter is cooked to its final form, and then the ice cream is added without further treatment or baking.
Another type of product involves the enclosure of ice cream within an edible container which is then cooked or otherwise heated. Such items would be generally classified as pastries and are illustrated by the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ 1,445,187 Vaughan 2,404,177 Jetschmann 4,171,380 Forkner 4,020,188 Forkner ______________________________________
These ice cream products involve the use of dough material which fully encloses and seals the ice cream, permitting it to be quickly deep fat fried without causing the ice cream to excessively melt during the cooking process. Typically, the pastry material is uncooked until the ice cream is actually enclosed and the combination is dropped in frying oil or in a hot oven. The Vaughan patent illustrates the use of an enclosed cooking shell made of metal for applying rapid heat to the pastry coating. Such baking procedures require very intense heat to quickly cook the pastry without permitting sufficient time to melt the contained ice cream. Such pastry shells are cooked at a uniform rate around the total enclosure, either by the enclosing metal shell or by the surrounding hot grease.
Although pastry-ice cream combinations have gained some popularity, the difficulty of prearation and storage has discouraged broad commercial development and sales. The ice cream cone with its wafer-like material remains the dominant carrier for ice cream sales which involve an edible container.
Another form of ice cream product is represented by the ice cream sandwich. This product includes a flat layer of ice cream pressed between two layers of cookie-like material. More recently, brand names of cookies have been converted to an ice cream sandwich configuration. For example, Oreo (Trademark) cookies have been used to sandwich an ice cream center as a commercial product. The use of cookies with ice cream uniformly utilize flat layers of cookie material with ice cream sandwiched therebetween. This sandwich configuration has been preferred over other shapes because of practical difficulties of preparing cookie materials in nonplaner configurations. Nevertheless, the sandwich has the disadvantage of compressing the ice cream when eaten, often leading to discharge of ice cream around the edges This has perhaps discouraged general use of cookie combinations with ice cream. Those applications which have developed conform to the sandwiched configuration with ice cream being contained between two opposing, flat cookies.
The packaging of conventional "home made" cookie material with ice cream has not evolved from other cookie/sandwich applications. It is well known to those skilled in the art that such cookie dough typically becomes fluid during its cooking process. By cooking on a flat surface, the cookie can be allowed to flow into squares or circles having a uniform thickness. Attempts to bake a cookie in other than flat shape have resulted in poor texture and consistency. This arises, in part, from the changes in viscosity which cookie dough encounteres during the cooking process. Because the fluid dough seeks a common level, it is difficult to have it take any other shape than a planer configuration, except by the use of molds or mandrels.
Examples of configured baking pans which have been used with levening batters are disclosed in the following patents:
______________________________________ 1,510,279 Huth 3,385,205 McCloud 3,590,728 Stanley 3,296,956 Turner 2,833,654 Sonnenshein et al. 1,293,819 Lewison 1,588,940 Smola 4,348,949 Selleck ______________________________________
Although the respective disclosures teach shapes which provide upper and lower mold surfaces for confining dough and configuring it to a particular shape, none of these shapes have been successful in developing a cookie texture and configuration. For example, the cup-shaped structures of Huth and Turner develop burnt or overdone areas at the corners Furthermore, the fluid nature of the batter as it is heated often leads to the uneven dispersion of gases through the dough mixture and uneven cooking of the batter. The resultant product is a composite of overdone and undercooked batter segments.
Although some of these molds are suitable for making buns as set forth in McCloud, attempts to process cookie dough in the same mold become fraught with difficulty. Similarly, whereas shapes having thin walls such as ice cream cones may be prepared with concave mold structures, cookies of three or more millimeters requires too much cooking time and develops poor dispersion of gases, with overcooked and undercooked segments. Because of these difficulties, development of nonplanar cookie shapes as ice cream containers has failed to catch the interest of both manufacturer and consumer.